Ohio State Basketball: Buckeyes drop to No. 16 and have work to do
The Ohio State basketball team has had a fine season so far but lost to the Michigan State Spartans Saturday and dropped to No. 16 in the AP Poll. The loss proved the Buckeyes have work to do to play up to the level of a top-tier team like the Spartans.
There is no shame in losing to the No. 6 team in the country but the loss showed what the young Ohio State squad must improve on to defeat the top teams in the Big Ten. The full-time conference schedule is underway and the Buckeyes can be assured it will be a battle nearly every time out from here on.
There are two problems Chris Holtmann’s squad has had during much of the season but overcame them all but once, until they faced a team as strong as the Spartans.
The first, scoring droughts which have allowed opponents to get on a run. The second, center Kaleb Wesson often getting into foul trouble. Both were issues in the loss to Michigan State.
The lack of scoring during a stretch of the game has usually been because the young Buckeyes are undisciplined on offense at times. That should lessen with experience but the other situation may be a bigger challenge to get straightened out.
Teams will be attacking Wesson inside trying to get him into foul trouble. He is Ohio State’s leading scorer averaging 17.1 points per game and opponents will want him sitting on the bench as much as possible.
It will be important for perimeter players to keep their man from getting to the paint so Wesson won’t have to play as much help defense. Also, the guys on the outside must make it difficult to get entry passes to the man Wesson is guarding down on the block. If the guards and forwards can do those two things most of the time it would go a long way to keep the big center out of foul trouble.
Well, at least the Buckeyes now know the things they have to improve on and they are still ranked after making a good showing against one of the best teams in the Big Ten.
Here are the top 25 teams in this week’s AP Poll.
1) Duke
2) Michigan
3) Tennessee
4) Virginia
5) Gonzaga
6) Michigan State
7) Kansas
8) Texas Tech
9) Virginia Tech
10) Nevada
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11) Auburn
12) North Carolina
13) Florida State
14) Mississippi State
15) North Carolina State
16) Ohio State
17) Houston
18) Kentucky
19) Buffalo
20) Iowa State
21) Marquette
22) Indiana
23) Oklahoma
24) St. Johns
25) TCU
Next. Who's staying, who's leaving for the NFL. dark
Ohio State is now 12-2 on the season (2-1 in the Big Ten) and will go on the road to play Rutgers on Wednesday.